Arista Networks Platform vs Cisco Nexus comparison

Arista and Cisco are both solutions in the Data Center Networking category. Arista is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Cisco is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.7. Arista holds a 14.9% mindshare in DCN, compared to Cisco’s 18.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Arista users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Arista Networks Platform

Read 26 Arista Networks Platform reviews

4,706 Views
3,478 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus

Read 104 Cisco Nexus reviews

3,272 Views
2,349 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Arista Networks Platform

Cisco Nexus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 8, 2024

Arista Networks Platform and Cisco Nexus compete in the network infrastructure market. Cisco Nexus is superior in feature offerings, while Arista Networks Platform stands out in pricing and support satisfaction.

Features: Arista Networks Platform emphasizes programmability, low-latency performance, and cloud-scale architecture. It also supports open standards and provides a single operating system across deployments. Cisco Nexus offers advanced security, comprehensive virtualization support, and flexibility with features like Virtual Device Contexts (VDCs) and high-density ten-gig ports.

Room for Improvement: Arista Networks Platform could enhance integration processes and expand feature documentation. It may also benefit from broader modularity in switch usage. Cisco Nexus could optimize its complex deployment process, improve documentation clarity, and address high pricing concerns.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Arista Networks Platform is straightforward to deploy and known for responsive customer service, facilitating quick integration. Cisco Nexus provides comprehensive service options with extensive documentation to support its more complex deployment processes.

Pricing and ROI: Arista Networks Platform offers a more attractive initial cost and quicker ROI, beneficial for budget-conscious organizations. Cisco Nexus, with a higher initial cost, delivers long-term value through advanced features and durability, appealing to organizations with a larger budget.

To learn more, read our detailed Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus

January 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Arista Networks Platform

Ranking in Data Center Networking

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Ethernet Switches (14th)

Cisco Nexus

Ranking in Data Center Networking

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

LAN Switching (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Data Center Networking category, the mindshare of Arista Networks Platform is 14.9%, down from 25.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Nexus is 18.8%, up from 14.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Center Networking

Featured Reviews

MarekSzafrański

Senior Core Network Engineer at Eurofins

Affordable for enterprise-sized companies

Speaking about whether the product enhanced our company's data center scalability, I would say that it was a solution that was used in a banking company, where it served as a replacement for Cisco. Though Arista Networks Platform is similar to Cisco IOS CLI, I feel that the former product offers better prices compared to the latter tool. Arista Networks Platform office is more efficient at a lower cost. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. The tool is stable and cheaper than Cisco. I would say that Arista Networks Platform is 100 percent compatible with the existing infrastructure in my company. The impact of the tool's network telemetry on our company's troubleshooting practices was just good for the scope for which I need the product. I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

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Joe Benítez

Systems Engineer at GAD Municipal de Guayaquil

Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing

Before Nexus, I used to have Catalyst 6500 switches. Those 6500 series chassis gave us a lot of problems. Too many problems, actually. And we had a Cisco ASA firewall blade within those chassis. And they were running outdated software. So, in fact, it was the firewall blade that caused us too many problems instead of the chassis. The chassis itself was working well and performing fine, but the firewall card was not suitable for our needs. That was one aspect. Additionally, those chassis had been in operation for more than five years. As we are a local government, we have a policy to renew hardware every five years. That's because we need to maintain all the hardware and software in the latest versions and keep up with the technology lifecycle of the technology we use.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"They support open standard features."

"We find the CloudVision switching feature of this solution really useful."

"It's an extremely reliable platform for the network switches we use."

"It is very stable. It has good hardware and very stable code. It provides good value for its price. They are a very lean type of organization, so they are very responsive, and they're able to focus more on their platform versus having multiple products out there."

"I like the spine as a leaf model and low latency. The hardware is robust and meets expected latency in all environments, mainly if you belong to the media or trading industry. For multicast-based solutions, Arista is number one."

"The most valuable feature is the Linux shell, which is useful for troubleshooting or capturing traffic."

"The user-friendly policy manager lets us apply different controls for various user groups easily."

"It provides telemetry and visibility for many metrics that are not supported by most of the other vendors. Out of the box, no third party solutions are needed."

More Arista Networks Platform pros

"The product has a stable and strong server panel switch."

"You can scale the product."

"Cisco Nexus has been very stable. No issues. It's been rock solid. We haven't had any issues with it in the last twelve months."

"Cisco Nexus has improved the way our organization functions through the troubleshooting. We had issues where we've seen our links saturated. We were able to determine what was being processed on the link."

"The most valuable features are the great performance, high availability and easy administration."

"The redundancy and the vPC are the most valuable features. We can integrate two switches together for file transfers; that is, we can operate two switches as one. This is because the network can be shared via a vPC trunk, particularly for devices that are not critical for redundancy."

"The most valuable features are the solution is robust, you are able to use it for fabric architecture as well as SPAN on exit with the controller."

"We are a Cisco shop. This solution is better compared to other options."

More Cisco Nexus pros

Cons

"I want the solution to include a unified controller."

"The overall price of the Arista Networks Platform is expensive. It should be reduced."

"My company does face issues in terms of interoperability when it comes to the product, making it an area that needs to be fixed."

"The solution’s pricing could be better."

"They should have a more stable code."

"From VMware, I think the cost of the tools is very high."

"Something that you will often hear about Arista products is that the price is a bit too high and, like with Cisco, we sometimes have problems with our customers because of its pricing."

"A smoother transition between ISPs during failover would improve the user experience by reducing unnecessary notifications and interruptions."

More Arista Networks Platform cons

"The initial setup is always complex."

"I would love to see Active/Active FEX connectivity, which is enhanced vPC, where we could also do a vPC from a server in that type of configuration."

"The installation process lasted too long, taking 16 to 24 hours for full completion."

"The initial setup wasn't simple or user-friendly."

"The product lacks options for integration with other market products that would allow us more flexibility."

"I would like to see more automation and for it to be easier to use."

"Ease-of-use and making things more human-readable is most important."

"One improvement needed is support for Multi-CAD scale that we were concerned about. We're not hitting any limits at this point."

More Cisco Nexus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as seven out of ten."

"Arista Networks Platform was cheaper than Cisco. I have heard that the product is affordable for enterprise-sized companies."

"Specific tools definitely require a license for the subscription. But we are not using these tools in our environment. In terms of licensing, you need to spend approximately $10,000 per month."

"There is an annual license required to use the Arista Networks Platform."

"Cost wise, Arista Networks Platform is more expensive than other networking solutions."

"Network devices are generally expensive. However, during the evaluation, Arista was the most inexpensive vendor."

"The price of the Arista Networks Platform could be less expensive for the hardware and license."

"The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000."

More Arista Networks Platform pricing and cost advice

"We have a virtual license."

"It's worth the money we're paying for Nexus."

"Licensing is annual or every three years. We were one of the big customers, and we used to get good prices, but the cost of the support can be improved."

"The problem with Cisco, from what I see, is that their costs are much higher."

"The subscription model and price could be better."

"The license on a yearly basis is $200,000."

"In most cases, there is a need to secure perpetual licenses to be able to use the product. When I set up the product, there isn't just a one-time cost that is involved."

"All of our costs including subscription, licensing, and support services are bundled together, and the cost is approximately $100,000 USD per year."

More Cisco Nexus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

University

Computer Software Company

26%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Arista Networks Platform?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Arista Networks Platform?

Compared to Cisco, Arista routers are significantly cheaper. The customer price for an Arista router is approximately $7,000 USD, while Cisco's is around $18,000.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Arista Networks Platform?

Arista Networks is currently less popular as they were initially more focused on data centers than campus networks. They should expand further into campus networks.

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Nexus?

The product's initial setup phase is very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus?

Cisco pricing is at the same level as many competitors, however, due to competition, they sometimes lower prices and offer large discounts.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus?

Cisco's security features are in line with other OEMs, however, for data center security in terms of layer seven security, we prefer to have different OEMs rather than relying solely on Cisco.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 20% of the time

Meraki MS Switches vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Aruba Switches vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco Ethernet Switches vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches vs Arista Networks Platform

Compared 6% of the time

More Arista Networks Platform Competitors

Juniper QFX Series Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 45% of the time

Cisco Catalyst Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 15% of the time

ExtremeSwitching vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 4% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch LAN Switches vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 3% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco Nexus

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Arista Networks Platform

January 2025

Download Arista Networks Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus

January 2025

Download Cisco Nexus product report

Also Known As

7000 Series

No data available

Overview

Arista Networks Platform is a stable and reliable solution for data center features, specifically for non-blocking switches used for spine-leaf connectivity with servers hooked to these switches. It also provides multi-layer switches for client networks, particularly in the banking sector.

Arista products are preferred for their stability, good hardware, ease of adoption and configuration, responsive and helpful support, and high throughput ratings. The solution has helped prevent screen loss and business outages in the media industry and is designed for next-generation data centers.

Arista

The Cisco Nexus family of switches is designed to meet the stringent requirements of the next-generation data center. Not simply bigger or faster, these switches offer the following characteristics: infrastructure that can be scaled cost-effectively and that helps you increase energy, budget, and resource efficiency, transport that can navigate the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and unified fabric and can also handle architectural changes such as virtualization, Web 2.0 applications, and cloud computing and operational continuity to meet your need for an environment where system availability is assumed and maintenance windows are rare if not totally extinct.

Cisco

Sample Customers

American Internet Services

Advanced Medical Transport, Banco de Guayaquil, Baylor Scott & White Health, BH Telecom, Bowling Green State University, Calligaris, Children's Hospital Colorado, City of Biel, Del Papa Distributing, Department of Justice, Dimension Data, Dualtec Cloud Builders, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS), Hertz, K&L Gates , LightEdge, Lone Star College System, Management Science Associates, Mindtree, NBC Olympics, Quest, Sony Corporation, The Department of Education in Western Australia, Valley Proteins

Buyer's Guide

Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus

January 2025

Free Report: Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus

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